Biden's Body Language During His Victory Speech Said A Lot

Third time's a charm? It is for Joe Biden, now president-elect. After two previous attempts at the office, he has finally given his victory speech. "I sought this office to rebuild the soul of America, to rebuild the backbone of this nation, the middle class, and to make America respected around the world again," Biden promised speech viewers. Words, of course, are easy to latch onto. Body language, not so much. The List conducted an exclusive interview with body language expert Mark Bowden to find out what the president-elect's body language during his victory speech meant. Bowden, who is also a panelist on The Behavior Panel, noticed that from the very beginning of his speech, Joe Biden sought to distance himself from Donald Trump.

Did you catch Joe Biden jogging on the stage? That, Bowden told The List, was a purposeful " choice to come across as energetic and vital the antithesis of Trumps 'Sleepy Joe' label." Bowden further emphasized that Biden delivered his "well-written and rehearsed" victory speech "in very confident conditions." He showed no signs of being under stress until "passion over[took] him towards the end" of his speech. Then, you might have caught a classic, Biden stutter.

Bowden pointed out two themes in Biden's speech that were particularly important to the president-elect. Biden's "grand expansive gestures" when he talked about United States' diverse demographics indicated Biden's wish "to emphasize the importance of unity of the country," said Bowden. Biden described coalition of supporters as, "young and old; urban, suburban and rural; gay, straight, transgender; White, Latino, Asian, and Native American" (via The Los Angeles Times). Bowden also noted that Biden zeroed in on his history-making vice president, Kamala Harris, who Biden described as the "first daughter of immigrants ever elected to national office in this country."

The second time that Bowden noticed a significant change in Biden's body language was when the president-elect used "expansive gestures" to talk about his administration's plans to combat COVID-19. "On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as Transition Advisors to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that starts on January 20th, 2021," Biden promised listeners. Bowden pointed out that Biden employed a "baton finger wave" when he talked about his plan in order to focus his audience in on "the new name of his plan against the health crisis."